H.B. to consider surveillance cameras for downtown

Feb. 5, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Huntington Beach Police officers Thoby Archer escorts a young lady in handcuffs back to a police vehicle and a jail cell on suspicion of public intoxication in 2011. This wasn't her first encounter with the law. Huntington Beach police officers first stopped her as she left a Main Street bar with girlfriends hours earlier. She was staggering and stumbled down some stairs. Officers advised the friends to take the young woman home rather than continue bar hopping. Hours later, they spotted the same woman chatting-up an older gentleman outside another bar on Main Street. She continued to show signs of intoxication so, for her own safety, officers decided let her sober-up in a Huntington Beach jail cell. . JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Huntington Beach Police officers talk to four men they spotted sitting in a car in one of the downtown parking structures in March 2011. Officers say that people will routinely start drinking their own stashes of alcohol in the structures before hitting the clubs, so they avoid some of the costs of a Saturday night on the town. Open containers of alcohol in a vehicle are illegal. . JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bar and restaurant patrons walk around Main Street in Huntington Beach March 2011. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Huntington Beach Police officers Thoby Archer escorts a young lady in handcuffs back to a police vehicle and a jail cell on suspicion of public intoxication in 2011. This wasn't her first encounter with the law. Huntington Beach police officers first stopped her as she left a Main Street bar with girlfriends hours earlier. She was staggering and stumbled down some stairs. Officers advised the friends to take the young woman home rather than continue bar hopping. Hours later, they spotted the same woman chatting-up an older gentleman outside another bar on Main Street. She continued to show signs of intoxication so, for her own safety, officers decided let her sober-up in a Huntington Beach jail cell. .JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

HUNTINGTON BEACH – An increase in crime and resident complaints coupled with a reduction in police officers in recent years has prompted some city officials to call for installing video cameras in the downtown area.

City Council members on Monday directed city staff to look into the costs and details associated with putting surveillance cameras downtown to deter crime and aid police in investigating various incidents.

"This comes from part of Chief Ken Small's study of what we can do to make downtown safer," Councilman Joe Shaw said. "I think we've needed this for a long time."

The most common incidents police have to deal with in downtown include alcohol-related events, such as public intoxication, assaults and thefts, officials said.

Councilman Matthew Harper was the sole opponent of looking into the option, saying it would have a negative impact on drawing visitors to the city.

"When the government is coming in and placing cameras all about a public area, that's a Big Brother world that I'm not interested in being a part of," he said.

Councilman Jim Katapodis, a police sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department, said in his experience cameras are successful in deterring crime.

"The only people who worry about the cameras are criminals," he said.

Councilman Joe Carchio added the cameras would be in place for the specific reasons and in specific locations, and would not intrude on downtown visitors.

"Try to tell that to the girl who was just assaulted last week. Tell it to the police officers who got in a fight and was jumped from behind. Now that's one police officer we don't have because he's on leave," he said. "This isn't Big Brother peeking into your homes. This is trying to help the police do their job that we don't have enough police officers to do."

The Police Department reported the downtown area saw 1,365 percent more Part I crimes and Part II arrests than the city average in 2011, according to the city's report. Part 1 crimes include robbery, aggravated assaults, burglary, robbery and rape, among others. Part II arrests include disorderly conduct, drunk in public and drunken driving, among other arrests.

The proposal is expected to come back to the council at a later date for consideration.

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